Degenerative brain disorders have many names: senility, punch-drunk, shell-shock, among others, and their causes range widely from disease to traumatic brain injuries and affect millions of people well beyond Alzheimer’s patients and athletes playing contact sports.
The World Health Organization and others have noted that neurodegeneration and dementia are leading causes of morbidity, suffering and medical costs, and thus they represent a global health priority. In addition to Alzheimer’s Disease, dementia related to prior Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is now recognized to be a growing, important, and modifiable form of the burden of neurodegenerative disease.
CereMark Pharma is leading the way on the science and technology to provide precise imaging of the brain pathology in cognitive impairment caused by Alzheimer’s Disease, and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy that often follows traumatic brain injury that occurs sports-related and accidental concussive events, combat-related or military training percussive events and bodily harm resulting from persistent domestic abuse. These traumatic events, research has shown, may lead to the development of pathological processes in the brain that cause cognitive decline in reasoning, behavior, memory and other executive brain functions. The resulting pathologies are signified by the presence of tau proteins and beta-amyloids in functional brain areas, so the detection and identification of tau and beta-amyloid in brain is critical to successful treatment.
Over 13 million Americans have a cognitive impairment. Another 10 million Americans are providing unpaid care to family members with cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment is not limited to Alzheimer’s disease, as it is a common consequence of traumatic brain injury that most commonly affects attention, mental processing speed, reasoning, episodic memory, and executive function.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), associated with percussive injuries (“blast-wave”) that occurs on the battlefield and during training, is increasingly associated with declining mental health; the RAND Corporation estimates that 20% of all veterans from the Iraqi and Afghan wars suffered traumatic brain injuries.
In the US an estimated 300,000 sports and recreation-related concussions are diagnosed nationwide each year, with the possibility that seven-times more go undiagnosed. An estimated 1.7 to 3.8 million traumatic brain injuries occur each year in the United States according to the CDC with injuries from cycling, football, playground equipment, basketball, and exercise/equipment contributing to approximately one-half of the 450,000 individuals treated for head injuries in U.S. hospital emergency rooms in 2018.
The leading causes of accidents linked to TBI that resulted in emergency department visits are falls, being struck by an object, and motor vehicle crashes. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that over 750,000 older adults are living today with traumatic brain injury-related disability. Research has linked moderate and severe traumatic brain injury to greater risks of developing Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementias, years after the brain injury.
Domestic violence (DV) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are being linked when facial injury is involved. Evidence now supports that more than 80% of female victims of domestic violence who are seen for medical treatment have sustained facial injuries, suggesting the risk for TBI. While a disproportionate number of adult women are DV victims, the case is that both adult men and children can be victims of severe physical violence that causes these injuries in a domestic setting.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) estimates in the United States, more than 10 million adults experience domestic violence annually.
CereMark’s products are in various stages of pre-clinical and clinical investigational new drug studies and are not yet approved for human use.
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